APPEAL OF THE FIRST HIERARCH OF THE
RUSSIAN ORTHODOX AUTONOMOUS CHURCH
Metropolitan Valentin
in connection with the negotiations
which took place between the ROCOR(L) and the ROC(MP) in Moscow between
November 17-21, 2003
The most precious thing for us in this life,
undoubtedly, is our soul, which is not worth even the entire world with all of
its joys. Eternal life with God or eternal deaththis is the end of our earthly
sojourn. The path of sorrows and persecutions for the name of Christ is exactly
what the Lord Himself promised to His little flock. Wide is the gate and broad
is the way that leadeth away to destruction, and many are they who enter
through it.
Over the course of several days, we have all been
witnesses of the meetings between the representatives of the Church Abroad and
the leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate (MP). This event has taken place not
by accident, but is the result of a long preparation. It cannot fail to evoke
sorrow in the hearts of true Orthodox Christians. For many, it has already
become evident that the leadership of the Church Abroad went to the
negotiations with the ROC MP, having been attracted to them by the idea of a
political unification. They did not know what the MP was from within, they did not know what we the
faithful living in Russia know. We know what it is that hides there behind the
showy faade of their "religious revival" and golden cupolas.
It is nave to think that the time of the totalitarian
atheistic regime has passed into history and that everything has changed. An
evil tree does not bring forth good fruit; and repentance, even if it has taken
place in great secrecy between the ROCOR(L) and the MP, has not washed away sins.
The sin of Sergianism, the sin of the heresy of ecumenism, the sin of betrayal
of the truth, the sin of corruption and hypocrisy, have not disappeared! In
order to be convinced of this, it is enough to remember the entire Soviet
itinerary, worked out by the atheists, by which the Moscow Patriarchate
unswervingly and pompously marched, along with her hierarchs.
From the writings of the holy Fathers it is known that
pious lay people, elders, zealous pastors and teachers, priests and
missionaries do not by themselves make up the Church, which, according to the
words of St. Cyprian of Carthage, is found in the Orthodox episcopacy:
"Where the bishop is, there is the Church." No matter how many lay
people enter the MP, they can never turn her into the Church of Christ, for:
"as is the episcopacy, so is the Church."
At the present time, the collective confession of the
entire episcopacy of the ROC MP must not be recognized as Orthodox because not one of the ROC MP's
unions with the heretics (Balamand and Chambesy) has been condemned by them.
Prayers with the heterodox continue even until now. The MP takes part in all
ecumenical projects, and the hierarchs of the MP continue to conduct
blasphemous "divine services." The fidelity of the MP to the ecumenical
movement was confirmed by the 1994, 1997, and 2000 sobors of the full Synod of
Bishops. It is superfluous to say that the Moscow Patriarchate does not now,
nor ever has, condemned Ecumenism or Sergianism.
During the past few days, in Moscow, and in front of the
whole world, at the same time as they are receiving the delegation of the
Church Abroad, the MP hosted an ecumenical conference, laughing in the face of
those who are still hoping for the repentance of the MP.
The entire world was witness to the hierarchs of the
ROCOR praying together with Alexei II and with members of his synod. Having
concluded an ecumenical prayer with unrepentant heretics, the ROCOR has shown
itself to be in violation, not only of the Apostolic and Conciliar Canons, but
even of its own anathema against the heresy of Ecumenism, which had been
promulgated by the Synod of Bishops of the ROCOR in 1983. At that time, the
Church Abroad stood for keeping and defending the true teaching of the Faith.
At that time, the voice of the ROCOR was a ray "of the light of
Truth" in the windowless darkness of the ecumenists' lies, in which almost
all of the nations of the world are drowning. Now, however, the hierarchs of
the ROCOR are asking for forgiveness for having done so from the main violators
of the rules of the Apostles and of the Holy Fathersthe MP! Today, we see the
disgraceful end of the ROCOR, once presaged by the ever-memorable Bishop
Gregory (Grabbe).
We call upon all who are zealous for the purity of
Orthodoxy to strengthen their prayers for the enlightenment of the errant and
for their return to the path of the Truth. Today, the MP is uniting with the
ROCOR, tomorrow it will be with the Vatican, as already done by the Ecumenical
Patriarchs Athenagoras, Dimitrios, and Bartholomeos. It will be more tolerable
for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than it will be for them.
Lowly Valentin,
First
Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church